Hinge



Oct. 12, 1943. v K. a. SIEDSCHLAG 2,331,512

HINGE Filed Apr l 15, 1940 2 Shee ts-Sheet 1 Patented 12.1943

Karl G. Siedschiag, Kent, out. assignor to American Hard Rubber Company,New ,York N. Y., a corporation of New York Application. April1'3. 1940,Serial No. szasao 2 Claims.

The invention relates an improvement in covers for cooler cabinets, andmore particularly I to an improved hinge for such covers.

Certain types of cooler cabinets for containing ice cream and the likefor use at soda fountains and similar places, are provided with doublecovers consisting of two sections hinged together so that each sectionof the cover may be turned or folded back on the other section. Sincethe ice cream is usually located immediately below the cover in areadily accessible position and with no protective covering between itand the hinged cover, it isnecessary that the hinge be constructed andconnected with the two sections of the cover in such manner as toprevent the passage from the outside of water and other -liquids throughthe hinge to the space below.

Effort heretofore madeto provide a simple and cheap absolutelyleak-proof hinge have not been entirely successful in all respects. Thcheaper constructions soon become leaky and the more nearlyliquid-impervious constructions are expensive to manufacture. The resulthas been that so little are the hinges themselves depended on to preventthe leakage of liquids therethrough into the ice'cream below, that thetop surfaces of the covers are usually provided adjacent the hinges withraised liquid-deflecting portions or.

shoulders, which when effective, add to the cost of the covers, andwhich detract from the appearance of the covers. Moreover, thehinges ofcooler cabinet covers have usually heretofore been composed of brass,plated with nickel or chromium. In the course of use the bright platingmaterial wears away and e zposes the less attractive metal of which thehinge is composed.

One object of the invention is to provide a two-section or foldingcooler cabinet cover with a hinge of such construction and arrangementthat it is'impossible for liquids'to pass through the hinge. Anotherobject of the invention is to provide a liquid-imperviou hinge of suchsimple construction that it can be produced relatively cheaply. Afurther object of the invention is to construct the hinge of suchmaterials that it will keep its original appearance indefinitely. To theaccomplishment of these'end the invention consists in connectingtogether the inmi edges of'the two sections of the cover by means of aflexible, liquid-impervious strip, the lateral sides of which areintegral with or secured non-leakably to the inner edges of the coversections. The invention is more'fully described hereinafter and isparticularly pointed out inthe appendedclaimss" a In the accompanyingdrawings illustrating the invention, Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a twosection cooler cabinet cover with one form of the improved hinge appliedthereto; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the line 22of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but

-- showing one section of the cover folded back onto the other section;Fig. 4 is an enlargement of the middle portion of Fig. 2 in order toshow more clearly the hinge construction; Fig. 5 is a view, similar toFig. 4, of another form of binge;

and Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing one of the coversections in the act of being turned to open position.

The improved hinge construction of the present invention may be appliedto and used in connection with any general type of two-section coolercabinet cover, whether composed wholly of a plastic material or whollyof metal, or part- 1y of a plastic material and partly of metal. Ingeneral, double or folding cooler cabinet covers are dividedtransversely at about their middle point into two sections of equal sizeand shape. The inner or adjacent edges of the cover sections arestraight and may abut each other-or be spaced apart. In applying theflexible, wa ter-impervious strip to the inner edges of the coversections to serve as a non-leakable hinge therefor, the side edges ,orlateral sides of the strip are connected with the cover sections in suchmanner as not to lessen the flexibility of the strip for use as a hingeand'yet positively prevent the passage of liquid through the jointbetween the hinge and the cover sections.

For the purpose of illustrating the application of the improved hingeconstruction to a two-section cover for cooler cabinets, there is shownin Figs. 1 and 2 a cover composed of a plastic material such as hardrubber. In top plan the two cover sections I and 8 are of usual contour,with rounded outer ends 9 and the lateral margins of their inner,adjacent ends meeting at the transverse joint it. More specifically thecover sections 1 and 8 comprise atop wall l2, an outer end wall I3 and abottom wall it, molded integrally and forming a hollow body adapted tobe filled with cork l5. Withthe foregoing parts the present invention isnot particularly concerned, except as they cooperate with the followingparts constituting the elements of the invention. Thecover section I. isprovided with the inner wall ii and-the cover sectionl with theinnerwall i8. The walls-J1 and, l8 v are detachably secured tothe coverwalls. i2 and i4. ,The;inner adjacent faces I9 of the walls I! and I8are substantially vertically and parallelly arranged and are spacedapart, and extend throughout the width of the Y hollow bodies formed bythe cooperating walls,

to 4 for connecting the cover sections so that each cover section may beopened and folded back onto the other cover section, as shown in Fig. 3,and for positively preventing the passage of water and other liquidsdown through the opening between the cover sections into the spacebelow, consists of a strip or panel of soft rubber 22 subwalls are setinto recesses in the lower inner corstantially as long as the width ofthe hollow body parts of the cover sections, as shown in Fig. 1, that isto say, the hinge of soft rubber is as long as the inner walls I1 and I8so as to cover the space between them. The strip or panel 22 is somewhatarched, as 'seen in Figs. 2 and 4. The under surface of the lateralsides 24 of the strip 22 of soft rubber is molded integrally with theupper edges of the hard rubber inner, walls I1 and I8, as indicated inFig. 4. The margins 25 of the lateral sides 24 of the strip 22 extendoutwardly beyond the outer faces of the walls I! and I8 and are receivedin kerfs formed in the inner top corners of the top cover walls I2.Transversely extending bumper stops 2'! of soft rubber are provided onthe inner faces of the walls I! and I8.

Since the hard rubber wall H, the soft rubber strip 22 and the hardrubber wall I8 are integrally molded, the two cover sections I and 8must occupy substantially the relative positions shown in Fig. 3 whenthe walls I1 and I8 are attached to the walls I2 and I3. Fig. 3 alsoillustrates the condition of the' soft rubber strip 22 when one coversection is turned back onto the other one. This relative position ofthecover sections may be frequently and rep'eatedly assumed withoutdeterioration of the flexibility of the soft rubber composing the hingestrip 22.

Referring particularly to Figs. 2 and 4, it will be observed that thehinge of the present invention for use in connecting the sections of acooler cabinet cover completely seals the space beneath the openingbetween the cover sections from the space above the hinge, since thereare no working parts relatively movable between themselves and hence noabutting joints through which liquid can pass. The molded, non-movablejoint between the lateral sides of the soft rubber hinge and the outerfaces of the top ends-of the hard rubber walls I1 and I8 is absolutelyimpervious to the passage of liquids. If liquid penetrates the jointbetween the margins 25 of the hinge and thetop cover-walls I2, it isstopped by the liquid-tight joint-between the upper parts of the wallsI1 and I8 and the inner edges of the top cover walls I2. Besides, thejoints at these points lead into the cork-filled interior of the hollowcover sections.

The modified form of the improved hinge illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 maybe applied to the same construction of two-section cover shown in Figs.1 to 4, and the cover parts of Figs. 5 and 6, corresponding to theequivalent parts of Figs. 1 to 4 are given the same reference numerals.In this form of the invention the inner wall of cover section 1 isindicated at 38 and'the inner wall of cover section 8 at 2|. The upperends of these ners of the top walls I2 of the cover sections 1 and 8.The inner faces of the walls 30 andll are provided with bumper blocks32, preferably composed of soft rubber.

In the modifiedform-of the invention shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the strip orpanel of soft rubber constituting the improved hinge, instead of beingmolded integrally with the inner walls of the cover sections, isnon-leakably connected with them by hard rubber strips fastened to theinner walls of the hollow cover sections, and with which the soft rubberstrip is integrally molded. The modified form of soft rubber hinge isindicated at 34 and in cross section is an inverted U. The ends of thearms of the U.-shaped soft rubber strip are molded integrally with theupper ends of the hard rubber strips 35 and 35, secured in a leak-tightjoint to the inner faces, respectively, of the upper portions of thewalls 30 and The mode of operation of the modified form of soft rubberhinge is exactly the same as that of the form of hinge shown in Figs. 1to 4.

The novel form of hinge constituting the subject-matter of the presentapplication is shown applied to a novel form of two-section coolercabinet cover in which-the top and bottom walls, the side walls, and theouter end wall of each cover section are molded integrally from aplastic substance, whereas the inner end wall is removable. Thi novelform of cover constitutes the subject-matter of'U. S. Patent No.2,276,205, issued March 10, 1942, to H. D. King, and accordingly, noclaim is made in this application to the novel form of cover hereinshown and described. Moreover it will be understood the novel hinge isnot to be restricted to application to this novel form of cover, sinceit is equally applicable to cooler cabinet covers in which the side andend walls are integraland either the top or bottom wall is removable.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new is:

.1. A unitary and integrally constituted hinge member for connectingtogether two adjacent sections of a cooler cover, said hinge comprisingtwo strips of hard rubber, each strip having provisions for enabling itsattachment flatwise to oppositely disposed portions of adjacent sectionsof a cooler cover, and a flexible strip of soft rubber connectingtogether said strips of hard rubber along the lengths of their upperedges, said strip of soft rubber being U-shaped in crosssection with thetwo ends of the U-shaped crosssection molded integrally along theiredges with the longitudinal edges of the hard rubber strips respectivelyso as to form a hinge U-shaped in cross-section with the widths of thehard rubber strips constituting extended arms of the U and the roundedpart of the soft rubber is the connecting portion of the hinge extendingbeyond the areas of the hard rubber strips when the hinge is attached tooppositely disposed portions of adjacent sections of a closed coolercover.

- 2. A unitary and integrally constituted hinge member for connectingtogether two adjacent sections of a cooler cover, said hinge consistingof two strips of hard rubber, each having provisions for enabling itsattachment to oppositely disposed portions of adjacent sections of acooler cover, strips of soft rubber, one attached to each of said hardstrips of rubber to serve as bumper blocks, and a flexible strip of softrubber connecting together said strips of hard rubber along their upperedges, said flexible strip having an

